Boeing CEO offers grief for crash victims, surety about Max makeovers

At the annual shareholders meeting, Dennis Muilenburg defends the 737 Max—now undergoing a software fix—and says company brass will be passengers when it returns to flight.

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When the 737 Max flies again, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg will be aboard.

At the aircraft manufacturer’s annual shareholders meeting in Chicago, Muilenburg offered a moment of silence for recent crash victims, tried to mollify investors and consumers alike, and walked a tightrope between shouldering responsibility and defending Boeing’s practices.

He also vowed that he and other Boeing executives would show their faith in the Max 737 revisions by being among its first passengers once the aircraft takes to the skies again.

The Max aircraft were designed as replacements for the popular 737 model, but the new jets had key differences that pilots said they weren’t informed about. A new piece of software played a role in the crashes of two flights within six months.

CNN reported:

Dennis Muilenburg said the pilots did not “completely” follow the procedures that Boeing had outlined to prevent the kind of malfunction that probably caused a March 10 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet. A Lion Air 737 Max crashed under similar circumstances in October.

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